From Teacher to Academic Manager

From Teachers to Academic Managers: Dealing with the complexities of the transition.
How does one go from being a teacher to an Academic Manager? While this is a natural progression in our industry, it is often not an instinctive evolution for a teacher. What is often
ignored is that these two roles are completely different and that the teacher will, in effect, be losing his/her job and much of what had attracted him/her to the industry in the first place.
Compounding the issue is the fact that if the promotion is internal, he/she will go from being a peer and friend to a manager, which is a tricky and often lonely path to manoeuvre. This is a very
traumatic experience for teachers who get rewarded with a promotion because they are excelling at their job, only to find themselves as neophyte managers, lost and alone in a stressful world. Using data gleaned from action research in the High School, VET and ELT sector as well as anecdotes and management theory I will try to shed a little light on this experience and offer
Academic Managers, both inexperienced and seasoned, insights on how to best navigate this complex road.